It is known to produce a laminated glass window or windshield by bonding two layers or panes of shaped and annealed glass together with a plastic interlayer. The plastic interlayer is usually made from polyvinyl butyral (PVB) which is sandwiched between the glass panes. A typical laminated windshield comprises a 2 mm glass pane, a 0.4 mm plastic interlayer and a second 2 mm glass pane that are bonded together to produce a 4.4 mm thick laminated window such as a windshield.
As an alternative to the use of PVB it is also known to use as a plastic lamination material ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).
It is further known to embed a heater unit within the laminated glass structure to provide a means for heating the laminated windshield.
It is generally a problem with known motor vehicle heated laminated windshields that use embedded heater units that these sometimes fail in service through aqueous corrosion adjacent to and/or within a power supply busbar used to connect the heater unit to a source of electrical energy.
Analysis of such failed heaters has identified corrosion caused by water ingress along power supply ribbons used to connect the power busbars to a main electrical supply circuit of the motor vehicle to be a major factor. An example of a prior art arrangement is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and will be described in more detail hereinafter but essentially a leak path exists where water can enter the windshield and travel by capillary action along each power supply ribbon to the adjacent power busbar and then to the heater connected to that busbar.
It is known to solve this problem by placing adhesive tape so as to try and seal between the electrical supply ribbon and the glass but this is not particularly successful and is also a relatively time consuming process due to the need to accurately position the adhesive tape.
It would be desirable to provide an electrical connector for a laminated window having a water impervious seal. It would also be desirable to provide a method for producing a laminated window having an electrical connector with a water impervious seal.